May 17, 2008

Indians of many shades

'Be Proud of All Your Bloods'

Mashantucket exhibit takes a look at raceThe faces, framed in 140 black and white squares, stare out from a wall just inside the gallery.

Some of the photos depict women in American Indian outfits with feathers clutched in their hands. Others are portraits of men in business suits. Another shows a young man and his basketball.

They are all members of the Mashantucket Pequot tribe. They are the first faces to greet you at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center’s “Race: Are We So Different?” exhibit.

And its tough to find two among the array whose skin tones look even vaguely alike.

“We do not fit the stereotypes of people’s ideas of what natives should look like,” Kimberly Hatcher-White, the museum’s executive director, said Thursday night during an invitation-only preview of the exhibit. “But that doesn’t make us any less native.”

4 comments:

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
Since the Pequots are a 'tribe' by act of Congress, why should they resemble "ideas of what natives should look like"? As easily, military officers could be their own organized tribes as such both are officers and gentlemen by similar act of Congress. Wow, the GeeHawks! And with enough technology to bankrupt their own futures!
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Rob said...

There's no particular reason the Mashantucket Pequots should look like traditional (i.e., full-blooded) Indians. But that's the point. People expect them to look like "Indians" and they don't.

Why do people expect this when, as you say, Congress recognized the Pequots recently? Because of the stereotypes prevalent in our culture, especially in the media. To reiterate what the director said, "We do not fit the stereotypes of people’s ideas of what natives should look like."

Even if the exhibit didn't feature only Pequots, it could convey the same message. Suppose it showed Indians as astronauts, Olympic medal winners, senators, CEOs, Hollywood writers, et al. Again the director could say, "We do not fit the stereotypes of people’s ideas of what natives should look like."

Anonymous said...

.I think "writerfella" missed the whole point being made.

Rob said...

Unfortunately, he often does. ;-)